Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, Interlagos, 2018

Ocon given three penalty points for Verstappen collision

2018 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Esteban Ocon has been given three penalty points on his licence for his collision with Max Verstappen in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Force India driver hit race leader Verstappen at turn two while the Red Bull driver was a lap ahead of him.

The stewards ruled Ocon was entirely to blame for the incident.

“The driver of car 31 (Esteban Ocon) was a lapped car. The stewards noted that he had new Super Soft tyres. Ocon attempted a pass on the leader, car 33 (Max Verstappen) to un-lap himself at the outside of turn one.

“The stewards determined that he failed to complete the pass at turn one, and as a lapped car, fought the leader for track position, causing the collision at turn two with the race leader.”

Vertappen and Ocon’s team radio during the incident.

Verstappen: “I have this Force India behind, me pushing.”
To Verstappen: “Understood. yeah he’s out on fresh supers.”

Verstappen: “What a [censored by FOM] idiot. What a [censored by FOM] idiot.”
To Verstappen: “Alright, calm yourself down for the moment Max.”
Verstappen: “Yeah I have massive floor damage. [Censored by FOM]. Give me directions with tools.”
To Verstappen: “Yep just looking through the data now.”
Verstappen: “On the pictures, pictures you can see what’s actually broken.”
To Verstappen: “Yeah we’ve lost load on the pod front. We’re measuring it. I’ll give you an update on data and what you can do with tools. For the moment you know what you can feel so get on that and be proactive.”
To Verstappen: “Alright Max we have lost a significant amount of downforce. We think it’s fairly well-balanced. You’re just going to have to manage.”

Ocon: “I don’t think I need to comment what happened. He didn’t leave me space.”
To Ocon: “Yep you were ahead and he didn’t leave you space, I understand.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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100 comments on “Ocon given three penalty points for Verstappen collision”

  1. I have never been so angry in my life…

    1. In your life? You should consider that a problem.

      1. Actually I didn’t mean that. I meant over this incident.

        1. I’m sorry, how was this anything other than Verstappens fault? He did not give Ocon room. Ocon was entitled to space and could not have gone any further to the right. He had his car alongside Verstappens and was entitled to room. Being a lap or 2 down is completely and utterly irrelevant. Verstappen should have been penalised for that.

          Someone show me where in the regulations it says that you cannot force another driver off the track – unless it’s a lapped car in which case you can?

          You can’t, because nowhere in the regs does it say that. If the regulations allow you to unlap yourself, then how can the stewards blame him because he was fighting for track position? If you’re unlappimg yourself, how else do you do that without fighting for track position?

          Also, the stewards say that fighting for the track position caused the collision – it didn’t. The car he was fighting with not giving him room was what caused the collision.

          Rubbish decision by the stewards that should be fought by force India. Emotions should be put aside and the actual incident looked at properly. The reason there was a collision was because Verstappen failed to give enough room to a car that was reasonably alongside.

          1. @nick101 Ocon is not entitled to anything. He was a lap behind. You back off and let the leader move in front of you. Absolutely the right decision.

          2. @bobec – your logic says that no one should be allowed to unlap themselves. Ocon was not being lapped here – which is why there were no blue flags. Cars are always entitled to space regardless.

          3. I agree with Nick on this one. I’ve been in both places during races; both as a leader and as a lapped racer.
            Ocon was under no obligation to slow-down or move out of the way, especially in a corner. It’s up to the leader to pass cleanly, and cautiously, and it’s up to the person being lapped to take their normal racing line and not purposely impede the leader. Back-markers have rights too, no matter how far they are behind. That’s just common sense.

            Verstappen had no reason to battle Ocon, no matter how much of a hurry he was in. Hamilton’s advice to Max was exactly right; … Max should have considered how much he had to lose by being impatient.

            A perfect example of this can been seen in the rules of yacht racing, where even a boat in dead-last place has exactly the same right-of-way privileges as the leading boats. Those rights, in all types of racing, are the same for everyone on the race course; … first or last.

          4. If Ocon were fighting for position with Verstapen it would still be his fault: Verstapen was in front when they touched and had the right to the line and no obligation to leave space (I actually hate the rules are confirmed this way, but they are). But he wasn’t even fighting for a position, so it’s even worse.

            Unlap: yes, but with brains, within the rules, and without massively interfering with the race outcome. It was a big mistake.

          5. @aezy_doc @chuckl8 It’s one thing to unlap yourself cleanly without impeding the leaders. It’s another to contest a corner when a lap behind, arguably a corner he had already lost to Verstappen. And yes, Ocon was lapped, Verstappen was just ahead.

            There were no blue flags, but that doesn’t mean much.

            And this isn’t yachting or any other sport. Lapped cars can not RACE the leaders as if it were for position. From what I see, the stewards see it that way too.

          6. Graham (@amancalledchuda)
            12th November 2018, 4:45

            @James Coulee

            Verstapen was in front when they touched and had the right to the line and no obligation to leave space

            You are completely wrong on this. As long as the car behind is significantly alongside (this is defined as the front wing alongside the rear wheel) – which Ocon clearly was – then you have to leave a car’s width.

            Max drove into Ocon – plain and simple. He could easily have opened his steering and taken a wider line to leave space. Instead, he suffered a ‘road-rage’ moment and simply drove into Ocon.

            It was immature and stupid of Max, yet everyone is blaming Ocon. I don’t understand it.

          7. @amancalledchuda And I don’t understand why you, and many others here, insist on applying rules that apply when cars are fighting for position, not when you have a lapped car. Though their decision was absolutely spot on, I think the stewards should have explained it more clearly, since Ocon doesn’t get it either (or he’s pretending not to and just doesn’t have a reason to care)

          8. What place was Max in and what place was Ocon in?
            Common sense should be called something else because clearly it’s just not common. Nowadays victims are the perpetrators and the one at fault is the victim, I’ll never understand that.

          9. So many people in these comments who just don’t know the rules. As they rightly say in the article, Ocon had the speed to do something till the middle of turn 1.

            Any pressure he puts on Verstappen after that is unwarranted as Verstappen was much much faster. Ocon could only follow on the straight due to DRS, he had lapped Ocon just prior to the straight.

            That Ocon decided to try anything into turn 2 instead of stepping on the brakes is deserving of a black flag and immediate race suspension.

  2. I don’t think Ocon deliberately took out Verstappen, but I highly doubt he would have even tried the same move on Hamilton.

    Mercedes young driver indeed.

    1. I think Lewis, if he was in place of Max, would have been a lot more cautious in approaching this.

      1. Exactly!!

        Verstappen can be his own worst enemy. He had nothing to gain with that tussle with a back-marker.
        He had the lead and plenty of time in hand to cruze to Victory, instead he litterally outdoes himself.

        He was the one who closed the door knowing Ocan still had his foot in that door. Had he shown Lewis’s level of calm professionalism, he would have allowed the other driver space to come back, knowing that eventually he would get the better of that driver.

        Instead Verstappen chooses to does ‘a Vettel’, agressively pitching his car into a tight spot to leave the rest to chance.

      2. But the problem with Ocon is that he doesn’t know when to pull out of a potential accident.
        Look at almost all the accidents he’s had, with Perez and Raikkonen, he keeps he’s car on the outside in a diminishing real estate, yet he can not see he’s running out of space and abort.
        Same at Spa with Perez, in Baku with Kimi and then Singapore with Perez.
        He may be a fast driver potentially, even that is debatable, but he’s proving not to be very bright.
        Lets put it down to inexperience because the other option will be stupidity.

        1. Graham (@amancalledchuda)
          12th November 2018, 5:15

          @OOliver

          But the problem with Ocon is that he doesn’t know when to pull out of a potential accident.

          Well, arguably, every overtaking manoeuvre is a ‘potential’ accident. By your logic, no one should try to overtake.

          As for Perez… In Spa Ocon was, what the regulations call, ‘significantly alongside’ Perez (this is defined as having your front wing alongside the car in front’s rear wheel). Therefore, Perez should have left him a car’s width. He didn’t. He hit Ocon and was thus at fault for the contact.

          In Singapore, Ocon was going around the outside of Perez, in complete control of his car, while Perez lost control, got a snap of oversteer and hit Ocon. How was that Ocon’s fault?

          As far as I can see, the only way you can blame Ocon for those incidents is by saying, “Ocon isn’t allowed to overtake.” Which I hope you would agree is nonsense.

          Now, the Raikkonen incident wasOcon’s fault. Kimi was on the inside and Ocon simply turned in on him and hit him…..

          …..exactly as Verstappen did today!

          So, please explain why, when Ocon turns in on Raikkonen and causes a collision it’s Ocon’s fault. But when Verstappen turns in on Ocon and causes a collision, it’s stillOcon’s fault. Explain to me how that makes any sense at all?

      3. You are definitely right! just look back at how he handled the situation in Singapore with Grosjean and Sirotkin battling each other in front of him while Verstappen was catchin up and almost passed him!

    2. I don’t think Bottas would attempt that move on Hammy…for position!

  3. And rightly so.

  4. Lucky to get away with a push and a small penalty. When all is said and done, he has no reason to do this. He’s cost someone a victory. Even if a gap was there… It doesn’t excuse him. Ocon is one of the biggest talents in F1, and always so constant. They have previous, obviously, but they were mates despite all they did in 2014. I don’t know if this was red mist, or just a misjudgement, or some previous that crept up. But it’s a real shame, a bizarre incident, and you wonder about Ocon. Shame he sits out 2019, curious where he fits back in.

    1. Also: always important to immediately emphasise just how idiotic Helmut Marko is for suggesting Ocon did this for his 2020 Merc drive.

  5. Seldomly seen a more stupid driver as Ocon today. Good he has some rest next year. Well deserved penalty!

    1. Max has consistently been more stupid. so if you’ve been watching the passed few seasons, you’re liar.

    2. I thought Max was the more stupid one here. It was a massive error of judgementon on Max’s part, in choosing to fight Ocon unlapping himself.

  6. Time to get rid of that blue flag rule… Racing wise, Ocon was too much of a cock, and Verstappen even more (as usual). Crash was avoidable for wiser drivers, but for this 2 spoiled kiddos can’t.

    1. I mean, the blue flag rules exist. Verstappen was ahead of Ocon going into turn 2, and as he’s the leader of the race, Ocon should brake and allow Max to take the corner. If he’s that much quicker, he can just overtake him into turn 4 or into turn 1 on the next lap without having to do it under braking. Stupid move to make on the leader of a race while you’re miles away from the points.

      1. Exactly. Ocon made a horrible and disrespectful decision. Couple that with Hamilton winning and it ruined the race.

        1. Overtaking is horrible and disrespectful in F1 now? There were no blue flags.

          1. there were: yust look at 1.57 of the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdZ6w3PrVJI

  7. The conspiracy theories are funny. Though they are right that he wouldn’t have done the same to Lewis, because Lewis would have had the presence of mind to let him go.

    1. Fudge Kobayashi (@)
      12th November 2018, 10:17

      +1

      They are bigging up Max being a title contender next year but I just don’t see it.
      a) The Honda has yet to bag a podium and now we’re talking regular wins? I am sceptical about reliability even if they suddenly find a bag of power (and they have NO idea where Ferrari and Mercedes who are already leagues ahead are going to be in 2019).
      b) Max is blisteringly fast but not measured enough to string together an effective title campaign til he loses some of that epic ego – would like to be proved wrong on this but again, just don’t see it happening in what, 5 months time? Nah.

  8. I might be going against the grain here but I think Ocon didn’t do anything wrong. He went to unlap himself and was half a car length alongside. All Verstappen had to do was leave a car’s width and we wouldn’t be talking about any issue. It all seems like the leader has to be given a bubble around them.

    1. @rob8k Ocon had a right to unlap himself and was much faster climbing the straight. I get the

      1. …oops. I stopped to look at the replay, I think this was actually more MV’s fault, Ocon doesn’t make the pass but he’s only a 1/3 of a car down coming out of the first corner and lines up for the second (right) presuming Verstappen would stay outside. Verstappen cuts across clearly ‘assuming’ that the corner was his and expecting, what? Ocon to brake heavily and let his by? If he was passing a frontrunner, Verstappen would have given room there. Just not cautious enough. The stewards aren’t apparently judging the incident itself since they’re arguing that Ocon had no right to fight for the position when he didn’t sail past on the straight. I don’t know, is that a valid interpretation?

        1. @david-br I believe I have the same opinion. Maybe unlapping rule needs to be updated as to avoid future incidents but I feel Ocon has been made a scrapegoat for a situation that to me was a racing incident. I feel that Hamilton/Vettel/Raikkonen etc would have left room and this would be a non issue

    2. @rob8k

      He went to unlap himself and was half a car length alongside.

      And that’s the problem. Trying to stick around the outside of another car in a corner and then using the advantage of the inside line in the next corner is fine per se. But not if you’re so far back that you only manage to get halfway alongside. Verstappen couldn’t see him back there and had every reason to believe that Ocon had canceled his attack for the time being. Verstappen was clearly ahead and entitled to claim the racing line. What Ocon attempted, was an impossible move that would’ve required some sort of premonition on Verstappen’s side. This was a clear breach of driving standards, and the fact that they weren’t even racing each other makes only it worse.
      100% Ocon’s fault, correct decision by the Stewards.

      1. sorry, i will never agree with you. If you can’t see where a driver is then you should expect him to be there and leave room. Plus Ocon was more than far enough alongside to warrant room. Should he be unlapping himself is another argument but at that point Ocon was entitled to room in my opinion

      2. Clearly you’ve never seen a race at Interlagos before! What a stupid statement!

        The Ocon move is made by multiple drivers at literally EVERY Brazilian GP.

        Verstappens fault 100%

        1. You’re a blind and ignorant fool, Nick.

          1. I’m not sure Nick is a fool. If you show this incident to someone without the context of who was leading/lapped then I think most people would agree that MV drove Ocon off the track. It’s his fault.

            Now bring it back into context re. Ocon being one lap behind, so what? He has a right to unlap himself. Why should he hold back when he’s so much faster than MV? And why would MV feel the need to be so agreesive in keeping someone, who’s clearly faster than him, behind him? He’s not racing Ocon. He’s racing LH. And for that he needs to stay pointing in the right direction.

            My view, MV lost his cool. He made a mistake. Ocon had the right to make that move.

      3. Nase describes one of the basic rules of racing. There is no way around this, it is a fact that Verstappen had the second corner.

        When you’re ahead and on the racing line, which Verstappen was, the corner is yours. It is not complicated, or subjective. Ocon is solely to blame for the collision here.

        Verstappen could have given more space of course – which I’m sure Hamilton would have done to minimize risk.

        1. @br444m Thats not how ownership of the corner works. Although it has changed over the years it is ruled nowadays that if the car on the inside is halfway alongside then the apex belongs to them, so long as they did not dive-bomb the corner. Ocon was halfway alongside going into turn 2 and therefore was entitled to space on the inside.

          1. @rob8k

            Watch the onboard footage. Ocon wasn’t halfway alongside going in to turn 2. After his failed attempt on turn 1, he was off the racing line for that corner. What was he trying to attempt going in to turn 2? An overtake? There’s no way he would have made it. He should have backed off an tried later.

          2. @todfod Just going to have to agree to disagree. In my eyes he was alongside enough to warrant space on the inside. If anything, it seems to have opened up a debate in what to do with unlapping rules. A lot of people are defending Ocon, a lot are defending Verstappen. Verstappen could have left space, Ocon could have waited till back straight.

          3. @rob8k

            You’re right. In the context of 2 drivers racing for position vs a driver unlapping himself, this entire incident can be viewed differently.

            If they were racing for position, I think Ocon had every right to stick his car alongside Max in turn 2, and I believe Max would have given him enough space that they wouldn’t make contact. But because this is a case of Ocon trying to unlap himself, I thought he needed to be more cautious. When Max denied him that position going in to turn 1, he had to back off and avoid talking any risk whatsoever. Unlapping requires compliance from the driver who’s a lap ahead, and if he denies it, the driver a lap down needs to suck it and be more patient.

      4. Graham (@amancalledchuda)
        12th November 2018, 5:49

        @nase

        Verstappen couldn’t see him back there and had every reason to believe that Ocon had canceled his attack for the time being.

        Seriously? I think Verstappen knew exactly where Ocon was and simply drove into him anyway. Think about it… Even if you’re right and Verstappen couldn’t see him, then you’re still in a Catch 22 situation. If Ocon had cancelled his attack, then where would he be? Behind Verstappen, yes? So Verstappen would have been able to see him in his mirrors. But if, as you claim (but I disagree), Verstappen couldn’t see Ocon, then there are two possibilities…

        1) Ocon is alongside him somewhere, or

        2) Ocon has disappeared into thin air.

        Now, which of those two do you think is the most likely?

        Verstappen was clearly ahead and entitled to claim the racing line.

        Says who?! The regulations clearly state that if an overtaking car is ‘significantly alongside’ (that’s front wing alongside rear wheel), which Ocon clearly was, then the defending car has to leave a car’s width. Verstappen didn’t and caused a collision as a result. 100% Verstappen’s fault.

        What Ocon attempted, was an impossible move that would’ve required some sort of premonition on Verstappen’s side.

        Completely disagree. Verstappen knew he was there. Was outraged that a mere backmarker was trying to overtake HIM. Suffered a ‘roadrage’ incident and deliberately drove into Ocon.

        Ocon was in complete control of his car at all times, didn’t drive into Verstappen and did nothing wrong.

        Terrible decision by the Stewards.

    3. Come on, be realistic. Trying to unlap yourself against the raceleader with an on average much faster pace. Complete misjudgement from Ocon. He made this stupid action because the victim here was Verstappen. Ocon’s personal red flag.

  9. Perhaps a year out for Ocon will do him good. He’s clearly fast, but does seem to attract these kind of silly incidents; in a slightly different way to Magnussen and Verstappen (two others you could argue are accident prone).

    No point trailing around in a Williams for a year. Give him the Mercedes reserve role, perhaps a few test sessions over the year and keep him race sharp in another series and I’d welcome him back in 2020.

    1. Please elaborate on how its slightly different? How does he attract “silly” incidents? How do you separate his incidents from that of Max and Kevin? Who both seem to be more on the causing, and not passenger ends of their incidents. We can even argue max initiated the contact today.

      1. @gufdamm We can argue about everything but If we apply basic racing rules, this was Ocon’s mistake.

        Ocon also has had some controversial collisions with Perez, hasn’t he? It seems he doesn’t always know when to back out of a move.

        1. @GufDamm , @br444m :

          Apologies, I should have explained my thoughts. With Magnussen and Verstappen, their crashes are born from aggression and in my opinion it’s either definitely their fault or definitely not, I’m rarely on the fence with it. With Ocon, he seems to get into a lot of scruffy, 50:50 incidents that just seem avoidable with a little bit more sense. Too many with Perez, one with Raikkonen I can remember and now this. If he could eradicate these from his driving, I’m sure he’d have a lot more points this year and certainly last year.

          1. He does find himself in very strange incidents. He always finds himself in a blindspot. I’m not certain whether it’s just bad luck or not however.

            I do find Kevin and Max’s aggressive moves more concerning. They are deliberate and usually very poor moves that require a driver giving in. Kind of like Vettel this year. In this situation I believe it’s just a lapse in judgement from Ocon.

          2. @ben-n
            Certainly last year? Ocon has a no-DNF-WR in F1 for a rookie. His only DNF came in Brazil (ironically?) and it wasn’t his fault at all. GRO had lost control of his car and collided with OCO.

            I agree with there being a distinction between crashes, aggression vs scruffy for instance. But with VER I can’t recall him being at no fault at all in any of his DNFs or even just crashes for that matter, bar Austria’17 bc of a botched start (bc of a broken transmission according to himself). Many of his own doing or racing incidents.

  10. I think part of the issue is we did not see the lead up to the incident. At least the Sky coverage didn’t.

    My impression was that Max had just overtaken and Ocon as a backmarker but Ocon would not let it go.

    However, it appears that Ocon caught up with Max and Max defended hard to prevent Ocon un-lapping himself.

    Is the latter what actually happened? As there appears to be a lot of confusion in the comments.

    If it was the latter, I would say that Max shoulders a tiny bit more blame in that instance. Ocon was still making a far to optomistic move…..but, if it was an legitimate un-lapping, then Max should have just let him go.

    1. @mach1, Ocon was indeed trying to unlap himself, and it was the case that Verstappen was defending his position because he didn’t want Ocon to try and unlap himself.

      You are correct that the final footage that most people will have seen was just the final moments, not what had been happening on the previous laps, and that has probably given a lot of people a misleading impression of what happened.

      1. Never the less you do not try such a action on the race leader.

        1. Oh please. Should he follow him around like he is the pace car, if he is faster too? Max turned into Ocon, he didn’t need to take the risk. He knew he was on pace after him before the corner.

          1. Yes actually. The leader should be given adequate respect and space and that was NOT the place to make that move. Follow Max around and get him on the straight, where he had more power. Foolish decision from Ocon and I happen to like him.

          2. @jblank Max would fair better if he conceded it. Right or wrong, Max put his win in Ocon’s hands today and lost it. Showing the leader “respect” is not in the rules. Max has already made it clear he doesn’t care about being sportsmanlike and showing respect to fellow drivers. Foolish decision from Max to cross infront of someone who has nothing to lose.

          3. The facts, Ocon:
            1) was only slightly faster the last few laps due to slipstreaming, DRS and a set of super fresh tires he was pushing hard
            2) was in reality a full lap slower over the whole race up till that point
            3) has a better engine for the uphill straight
            4) was pushing it to the limit as opposed to Max cruising to control the wear and tear
            5) was still far from sticking a good and clean overtake which is expected if you unlap
            6) had the outer corner (not the racing line) into turn 1 where he could see Max was clearly outbraking him
            7) was behind halfway through turn 1 because of that
            8) was still acting as if he was racing for position by speeding up between 1 and 2 (without gaining anything)

            So stop blaming Max please. He gets blamed for being an aggressive racer that takes the opportunity when it arises. It helps him more than not. Now it’s Ocon making a crazy move that’s not even for a position and you still manage to blame it on Max? So what if Ocon had nothing to lose? That should never be the point! If you really think he’s to blame for not taking his loss on an improbable hard battle i’m calling you irrational. You just hate him for some reason and that’s why you come up with these fallacies.

            My opinion:
            It would have been fine if Ocon made a clean overtake but even then he would have lost it immediately without DRS and slipstream. Both drivers would have lost time in the end very likely. And yes, Max would have won if he did sacrifice some of his pace but that’s irrelevant. He shouldn’t have had to sacrifice anything. It was up to Ocon to make sure Max would not be obstructed. This is what almost everybody inside the F1 circus is saying except the figureheads who have political reasons to be the schmucks they are. Most importantly the Stewards agreed by dishing out one of the hardest penalties possible and the FIA afterwards agreed that it was a horrific move by Ocon. I can understand the fury of Max afterwards, but he should not have shoved that hard. At the same time I’m amazed he didn’t punch Ocon since the ‘idiot’ kept laughing as if they just had a good battle for first place.

        2. Well… the rules on overtaking are pretty clear. If the car alongside you is reasonably along side, you’re supposed to leave room. Nowhere does it mean backmarkers, or race leaders, or championship leaders.

          While Ocon made a very aggressive move (and since he has a long history with Max, he should have known what would happen), Max didn’t really leave much room for Ocon’s car.

          My personal opinion is that it was roughly 50/50 on responsibility and should have been declared a racing incident, given that both drivers have a tendency to drive aggressively. Unfortunately, being several thousand miles away, the stewards didn’t ask my opinion.

  11. Well it is Ocon’s fault,but Max did it to him self.

    Max really must tart learning that he should leave some pace and not just cut others of.
    Most of the time the others got the damage, now he knows he is not unfonerable to his own actions.

  12. Had it been the other FI driver and this board would be lit with hatred comments against him. But it was the very young likable always victim driver, you know the one that is never at fault for forcing himself thru and putting the car where it will only cause a collision and never a pass. Can’t wait for the “Max tried to kill me” tweet.

    With that said, any lapped driver is allowed to un-lap himself, that’s not into question, it is the race circumstance, position at the track, timing and the stupid move what should be looked at, regardless of car color or team name.

  13. RebelAngelFloyd (@)
    11th November 2018, 19:31

    Stupid Action from Ocon (still under Mercedes contract), maybe blinded by All the blue lights in his cockpit.
    Would be good if he starts his sabbatical (road trip in with his Mercedes SUV) one race earlier.

    1. @rebelangelfloyd there’d be no blue lights. Max had not lapped Ocon on track. Ocon caught Max and was passing him.

      1. RebelAngelFloyd (@)
        11th November 2018, 21:13

        Ocon was 2 (two) laps behind.
        The instant that Ocon gets before Max on the straight, Ocon gets the blue lights.

    2. “Stupid Action from Ocon (still under Mercedes contract)” – Yet the same doesn’t go well with oranges if you’d state VER is still under contract at RB for at least the upcoming two years, a long term asset, while RIC has long been amortized, so has been given lemons to compete with.

      Ziggo.

  14. ridiculous penalty & penalty points as that was not ocon’s fault.

    He was faster than Max at that point due to been on fresher tyres of a softer compound. He had been stuck behind Max for over a lap & was clearly faster at that point. He got DRS, Got alongside, Stayed alongside & Max just turned in and didn’t leave room.

    It wasn’t Max trying to lap Ocon, It was Ocon been faster unlapping himself because by been stuck behind Max he was losing time to the cars he was racing ahead/behind. He was faster & perfectly entitled to unlap himself.

    1. Just being faster doesn’t give you the right to force an overtake. The second corner was for Max as he was ahead and on the racing line. Ocon was fully to blame here for the collision.

  15. max on sky interview

    “i dont care what lewis thinks and i have no regrets, i’m the winner and esteban is just a stupid guy so its no surprise he won’t be here next year”.

    1. Max, I can agree that you deserved the win, ok, but you are not the winner, and “deserving” means next to nothing in F1

    2. No Max, you’re not the winner and didn’t deserve the win because you weren’t cautious enough passing a combative Ocon and decided to cut right across him. Fairly basic.

    3. Agree, hamilton should be ashamed of this victory, he wasn’t the best at all.

      1. Hamilton should be ashamed that his competitor took himself out of the race?

        What planet do YOU live on?

        Here in the real world, F1 is a competitive sport, and actions have consequences. Max chose to defend aggressively, and it cost him the race win and 7 points. End of story.

    4. Why does Max continue to make himself unlikeable.

      1. I guess because he is?

  16. Ocon does a Verstappen on Verstappen.
    Ocon may not have been a ‘contender’ but he was racing and desrved a little room. Verstappen was leading and pulling away from Hamilton He could have should have waited and passed Ocon later. Verstappen knew Ocon was there yet he turned in very aggresivly and made contact. Goes to show that the red mist still drops and blinds him from logic.
    I can say without doubt that if the roles had been reversed Vestappen would have done the same thing.

  17. Later it will emerge that Esteban Ocon is a secret agent, trained from childhood by Juan Pablo Montoya with one mission… take out a Verstappen from the lead in Brazil.

  18. The knOCON Effect.
    Maybe he should try stock cars next year? Rubbin’ ain’t racin’!

  19. Ocon was faster than Max yes, but he was aggressive when he didn’t need to be. Verstappen was slightly ahead and was turning into the racing line. Ocon put his car where it didn’t need to be. Well deserved penalty.

    1. Just that! +1

    2. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
      11th November 2018, 20:20

      And if he was faster, he could’ve had Verstappen on the run to turn 4…. His car has more power
      This’d be a forceful, risky (and dumb) move even if it was for position, now he got careless, and this happenned

      also, for all y’all telling Max should’ve left more room. Magnussen drove Ericsson of the track in turn 2 in the early stages, but I’m not hearing any of y’all about that either….

      1. So Max should be pardoned because Kevin was more wrong? Do you live in a society with laws? What Max hasn’t learned is that you can be right and burned still, he never sees the bigger picture.

        1. @gufdamm
          And the funny thing is, the MAG-ERI was a normal overtake, nobody got driven off track. It was a proper, clean overtake. Nobody, not even ERI or Sauber mentioned any wrongdoing.
          These oranges are just fabricating ‘facts’ to divert any mistakes of their hero.

  20. EsteBANNED for 2019.

  21. I wonder what Montoya’s thoughts are?

  22. I think a racing incident. It’s one of those strange grey areas, should Max leave room, should Ocon yield? Did either do anything wrong really? Can go round and round and round.

    I found the stewards verdict odd, more than a car length along side and they deemed he caused a collision?

    1. You can not be a cats length aside a hit a car on the sidepod. Look again. Max was in front

    2. not turn 1 they decided on turn 2 which Max was half of lenght in front. Check Daniel and Vettel the first time same situation and Daniel brakes as Vettel swoop in front.

      1. @macleod But had Ricciardo not braked and they’d collided, it would have been a racing incident, that’s the point.

  23. He’s very immature for a 21 year old…

  24. Hartley got penalised in Mexico for turning in on Ocon, this week Ocon is penalised for being turned into. I was under the impression when a significant proportion of the other car is alongside the defending driver must leave racing room, today I saw Verstappen drive as though Ocon wasn’t there.

  25. I’m not Verstappen loyalist, but what Ocon did made no sense. He is a lap down, was behind Verstappen after the turn, and had lost the corner. Even assuming he manages to pass, he will not be fast enough to stay ahead of Verstappen, and will be blue flagged.

    I know Ocon and Verstappen have a bit of bad blood from previous racing series, and I just feel like this was Ocon trying to show Verstappen/the world that he is just as fast, and should be in a better car, and should be in F1 next season.

    In my three years of watching F1, probably the worst decision making I have seen from a car a lap down.

  26. Ofcourse you can unlap yourself, but you have to give the race leader some space. This means unlap at the end of a straight or so, not battling it out.

  27. Let me preface my comment be saying this is 100% Ocon’s fault: Sure you can unlap yourself, but if he couldn’t make the move stick into turn 1, be had no right to stick his nose on the inside of T2. Look at how the top 6 all behaved when making moves into T1 on each other.

    On the other hand, Ocon’s move is exactly what Verstappen dishes out all the time. He puts his car in a place where the other driver must back out or have a collision. Now that we see Ocon drive exactly in the same manner that Verstappen does and Max throws his toys out the pram.

    1. Max lit his toys on fire and threw them at Ocon.

  28. Two years later, Portugal 2020…
    Verstappen insults Stroll, nothing has been dealt with against him. I’d rather lose 4-0 to Ocon’s team and then get sacked from Red Bull then watch this incident again and again.

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